News & Views

Speakers Announced for Now / Next / Why

Contagious' Now / Next / Why 2015 series has been specifically designed to deepen understanding of one of the biggest, hairiest topics in our industry today. We’ll be showing you lots, but we’ll also be helping you apply it directly to your business or those of your clients.

The event's theme is Obsessing Experience. The Contagious team, along with industry experts, will demystify the concept of creating meaningful brand experiences across multiple touchpoints, considering the biggest challenges, some of the smartest solutions and the techniques for making these happen.

Matt Watkinson is a designer and consultant who helps businesses get their customer experience right. Matt has worked with some of the most successful brands, design agencies and management consultancies around the world, specialising in joining multiple touchpoints together to create a single experience. He is the author of The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences, which was voted CMI management book of the year and is now widely regarded as one of the most practical and influential works on the subject.

Speaking at all our Now / Next / Why events, Watkinson will be joining our closing METHODS & MECHANICS section, providing an overview of his principals, grounded in practical advice for how they can be applied to any business.

He will then be collaborating with the Contagious Insider consultancy team to deliver a workshop that will invite the audience’s participation in defining creative, connected and consistent brand experiences.

Chris Grantham is a brand thinker and strategist, working as brand experience portfolio director in IDEO London with many leading brand experience organisations including IHG, Hakkasan Group, IKEA and Nike. Having worked in brand communications and classic brand strategy, Grantham is now fascinated by more agile brand development processes such as developing a brand’s strategy and actions in the same iterative design exercise.

At Now / Next / Why in London on April 21, Grantham will join our opening CASE & CAUSE section, explaining why deeply understanding consumers, the role a brand plays in their lives, and translating that to every part of their experience, is vital for modern businesses.

He will discuss what it means to be a designer in a world where consumers transfer their experience and service expectations across categories and will also show how IDEO prototypes brand experiences to identify what customers truly value and help understand the role a brand can play in their lives.

We're confirming more innovative thinkers from the world's most intriguing brands over the coming weeks, but there are only a limited number of spaces available. Click on your city below to book.